Vikings 29, Bears 22
KIRK COUSINS: Great to get a win. Great to get to 4-1, beat a divisional opponent, win a home game. That's really what we're here to do, what it's all about. Winning was huge, and I thought for much of the game, our offense played a very high level. It's never going to be perfect, and today there were some times we stubbed our toe. But for much of the game, played at a very high level, and also felt a lot of the success in the first half was really good planning by our coaches, putting us in some pretty good positions to be effective and kind of putting the wind at our back for us. That was a great job by them with the game plan coming out fast with the way they attacked.
We obviously need to play better four quarters. We need to play better through the stretches of the games that we could pull away and not let these games in the last two minutes go long. That'll be the challenge moving forward is if we were to get out ahead of somebody how could we just pull away and not linger. I'll take any questions you have.
Q. What was it about the game plan that you liked?
KIRK COUSINS: Well, I just think the way that our staff prepared for and the way they planned to attack, mixing run and pass, play action, screen game, the no-huddle, the red zone plan, the run game was effective. Anytime you're effective it's usually because you're being pretty multiple and not leaning on any one thing too much, but I just thought that after the first couple drives, with the start we had, I look back at the plays and you're like, well, I felt like I'm being put in a position to be successful, and that's a great feeling, when you realize your coaches are kind of putting the wind at your back.
Q. Talk about your hot start, and were you aware you broke Tommy Kraemer's record, team record, for most consecutive completions?
KIRK COUSINS: Yeah, I saw that graphic when it came up because I'm just sitting there watching the game along with 70,000 other people in the stadium when I'm on the sideline. It felt like we had only thrown about eight passes to me when they had said that. You just kind of play, you're not really thinking about it. It was a productive day. Great to see the production on 3rd down. I think that's been a place that we want to be better, need to be better to win, and the last two weeks have been better, so that's been encouraging.
Q. Did you ever run of completions like high school, college?
KIRK COUSINS: I have no idea. Certainly you want to pride yourself on being a high completion percentage guy. Within reason. I think sometimes it can be a stat that you can misuse. But I think completion percentage tends to reflect making good decisions, getting through your progressions, being efficient, staying ahead of the chains.
I think it's a good sign that your offense is operating efficiently if your quarterback completion percentage is higher.
Q. The 3rd and 5 at the end, the decision to run, at what point are you tucking and running?
KIRK COUSINS: Yeah, I think it was two man, so that already gives you a chance as a quarterback to run because there's nobody man on you. I felt Adam get bear hugged. He was really my No. 1 guy on the route and he got bear hugged, so he's not getting open, and then Irv kind of got mugged, as well, getting off the line. And then the rush, I just felt somebody cross my face and rather than progress to the backside to Justin and K.J., I knew it was two man, knew I had a chance to run. I felt the rush kind of cross my face, and I just thought, I'm just going to take off here and try to get it.
Usually it's a slide but when it's 3rd down and you're down there, you've got to find away to get across the line.
Q. Then the sneak 3rd and 1, I'm trying to recall -- you don't do that often, do you?
KIRK COUSINS: We do it when we have to. We snuck last week against the Saints for a 1st down and then we snuck here. But again, the quarterback on a sneak, it's not really me as much as that's Garrett, that's Ezra, that's Ed, that's CD, Brian. I think CD provided a great late push with the way he came down. So that was obviously an enormous play.
Q. Is that the call out of the way, or it looked like you were in shotgun for a second --
KIRK COUSINS: Yeah, in that case there were a few options there. There were a few options, yep, so we were able to get that one in.
Q. Coach was just saying how much faith he has in you to make decisions pre-snap to kind of go through post-snap. The synergy that you two are developing, what's it feel like just to know they're using you the way that he does?
KIRK COUSINS: Yeah, he's really been that way from day one. You said it, we're developing. I think we're getting there.
I would tell you that after being in a system for three-ish years, three different play callers but a similar system, I'm not where I was at the end of last season in that old system. But we're developing and we're getting there, and I'm excited about that continued growth, and we have to keep showing that. We've got to get to the bye and look back and feel like we are every week taking another step towards that synergy, and he certainly is in my corner, and I think that makes for a great help as a quarterback.
Q. On that 17 for 17 stage there, is that like a confidence or something you just feel that you can put the ball pinpoint? Do you feel that all of a sudden you're hot?
KIRK COUSINS: I really didn't. I think it goes back to, again, the coaching, the plan. When you're just dropping back and going where your reads take you, but they're giving you number one open, and players are separating and the run game is giving you favorable opportunities to throw the ball, it's just kind of all converged on putting me in a position to be successful.
But no, I don't think I was ripping it into brutally tight windows or having to throw and kind of be this hero. I think when you do that, it's because everything around you is giving you this opportunity then to be successful.
But if you go back and watch those 17 throws, I would think you'd see they're very automatic, which I think my point is it says a lot about the plan, the coaches and my teammates kind of putting me in that position.
Q. Kind of going off of that, what did you see them do differently with Justin in the second half after what seemed like --
KIRK COUSINS: Yeah, I think probably a little less single high, a little more split safety. Maybe a few more pressures here and there, and the rush got home a couple times in the second half, but I will say that we just didn't run enough plays. In the third quarter they start with it, and then we get the ball. We got a good field position, converted a 1st down, and then on a 3rd down trying to get the ball out to Irv, they hit my arm, and whether it was a fumble or an incompletion, had to settle for kicking a field goal there, and then we didn't really get the ball back until the fourth quarter. You only have like six plays or whatever it was run in that third quarter, which I think just doesn't give us the opportunities that those 12 plus play drives in the first half gave us.
Q. What did you see on that interception?
KIRK COUSINS: Yeah, that was an example of allowing previous plays to influence your decision instead of just running the play in a vacuum. I had taken that flat route so many times and a couple times last week, a time earlier in this game with Irv, a guy was open elsewhere and I kind of was allowing those previous plays to start to try to hunt something up that really I should have just said, let's just play this in a vacuum, in its own entity and take the guy that's open in the flat, and settle for a shorter gain if it's a shorter gain, instead of trying to use previous reps to hunt something up that really wasn't there.
Q. Do you think some of that tension is part of that developing in a new offense?
KIRK COUSINS: I think what's tough is I'd love to say, oh, I threw a pick because it's a new offense. But when you look at it, it's like, man, I've run bootlegs my whole career. That was just another bootleg that I've run a thousand times. All I can say there is don't allow a previous clip where you think you might have had something and you settled for the check-down, don't allow that to then make you on the next play start to look for that when it isn't there or start to feel like, oh, maybe I'll get it. Just treat each play as its own entity.
Q. Quarterbacks and teams are measured often in how you perform in those last-minute drives. Are the factors there that you're seeing develop with this team, do you almost embrace those times now, because you look forward to the opportunity and have a confidence level with this team?
KIRK COUSINS: Well, I think you always embrace them. You always, until the clock says zero, you're really feeling like you've got a fighting chance. Been a part of too many games where you have the odds against you, but with time-outs and some clock, you find a way to get down there and get points, whether kicking it or scoring a touchdown.
You kind of always keep hope alive, and with the players we have, as well, you keep hope alive because you expect guys to make plays and give you a chance until the clock says zero. We kind of learned it the other way, too. When you have a lead, teams in the NFL tend to find their way back, so you have to keep playing, and every player matters so much.
Q. What are your thoughts on being 3-0 in the division, and how hard is the schedule this year with all the home games early and all the division road games late?
KIRK COUSINS: Yeah, it's a great start. It's a great start, and that's all it is, though. We're going to be talking each week here and all the way through to January, and that's where really it matters is we've got to finish strong. But it's a great start, and we've got to build on it.
Q. When you're running that no-huddle, I think sometimes people have a misnomer that it's hurry-up, and in your case it's not always. Curiously, what are you guys doing in that period when you get in a line and sometimes you back away? What's that all about?
KIRK COUSINS: I think it's just an opportunity to kind of keep going, keep the momentum going in our favor, kind of going back to that wind at your back feel where you're playing downhill in a good way where you've kind of got momentum, and you just kind of keep that tempo going and apply pressure.
That's really what you want to do there.
I think it's been effective for us. I think it's important each week how we do it, when we do it, why we do it, what we're looking to do with it. Those are the questions each week in a game plan that are important, and that's where I say, the way the game plan fit this week and the way it got designed by our coaches, it just would appear it was really strong. The first few drives the game, the way they designed it and then the way it was executed by the guys.
Q. Does any part of it keep the defense from substituting --
KIRK COUSINS: Yeah, if we sub, then they get to sub.
Q. They can't substitute for like if they're tired?
KIRK COUSINS: Correct. Well said. They can fake an injury, which teams do, but yeah, it does allow you to hopefully play fast. The fatigue goes both ways, but if we can be conditioned at a high level, we can use that to apply pressure to a defense.
But they know that, and so if we sub, they sub, and so that's all those conversations of hey, I know you're tired but you've got to stay out there so we can keep going, keep our foot on the gas.
Q. You converted five 3rd downs on the 17-play go-ahead drive. How does each one of those conversions kind of change what you're able to do?
KIRK COUSINS: Yeah, 3rd down conversions are such a big part of why you win or why you lose. They get a big emphasis every week in your preparation. You spend basically a whole day on Thursday trying to lock that in. Again, it goes back to so many pieces have to work. The design needs to be good. It's got to be well protected. Guys got to get open and separate versus the coverage, and we've got to find it and throw it, and you've got mix of run and pass.
You've got to stay in 3rd and manageable. I think we had 10 3rd downs five or less. When you're in 3rd and 11 all game, that's a different conversion than 3rd and 1. So staying in 3rd and manageable, being productive on 1st and 2nd down to give you that fighting chance on 3rd down really helps.
Q. A couple times today we saw Darrisaw just buried. How have you seen him develop here and what kind of confidence do you have in him holding down that edge for you?
KIRK COUSINS: Yeah, I'm excited about him. I made a comment earlier this week about how you don't know he's there. At one point in today's game I felt him. He was upset about something, whether it was a snap count or a call. He got fired up, and I remember thinking, I like this. I like feeling his edge a little bit. And you realize, you start to get that, I think, because he's starting to realize what it takes, what it looks like, what to expect as a player in this league, and seeing that from him, you start to feel like this guy is a vet more than a young player.
He's only going to get better, and so really grateful we have him and the way he's improving and the way he's working every week.
DraftScripts by ASAP Sports
FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports